2/21/2023 0 Comments Bloom county![]() You Probably Haven’t Read Most of the Strips.Ĭollected comic strips in trade paperback became bestsellers in the 1980s, but Breathed was forced by the publishers to cut most of his strips from the collections, and he once estimated two-thirds of his output never left the comics pages. The recognition was opposed by Pat Oliphant, a political cartoonist who found the strip to be full of ”shrill potty jokes." 5. With the exception of Doonesbury, few syndicated strips ever receive the honor. It Won the Pulitzer Prize.Īfter years of sharply skewering public officials and social issues, Breathed was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1987. Instead, he became a popular (if slightly ratty) plush collectible. Breathed developed the hairball-spewing, gasoline-drinking Bill the Cat as a way to mock the character, believing he would be too repulsive to merchandise. He was especially perplexed by the popularity of Garfield, the lasagna-snorting cat that some critics perceived as overly commercial. Bill the Cat Started as a Parody of Garfield.īreathed didn't read comics growing up and knew little about them. But readers reacted strongly, and Breathed decided to keep him on. At the time Breathed created the penguin-who would go on to become the breakout star of the strip-he thought he’d be good for an appearance or two and then shuffle off. Opus Was Meant to be a Throwaway Character.ĭespite his literary pedigree, Opus wasn’t intended to become a fixture. ![]() “He’s a motherless innocent, adrift and wandering about in an adult world of confusion, betrayal, and incivility.” 2. “I will say that Opus is really Scout from Mockingbird in many ways,” Breathed said. Opus, the dreamy-eyed penguin of the strip, was a reflection of Lee’s juvenile protagonist, Scout. Breathed told an interviewer in 2009 that the setting was very much inspired by Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and its Maycomb, Alabama. The small town featured in Bloom County was a rural, value-infused community that was home to frequent outbreaks of political hysteria. It Was Inspired By To Kill a Mockingbird. Take a look at some pressing facts about Opus, Milo, and the rest of the gang: 1. For others, it was something new.įortunately, penguins age well. For some, it was a re-introduction to the 1980-89 satirical strip that lampooned the cultural and political excesses of the decade. ![]() While his contemporaries Bill Watterson and Gary Larson have largely stayed away from sequential art since they both retired in 1995, Berkeley Breathed surprised fans in July when he resurrected Bloom County and its full cast for his Facebook followers. ![]()
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